What is CrossFit?

If you would have asked this question 10 years ago, none of us at ClockTower CrossFit would have had any idea. But just a year later, several of us knew a lot more. And today there are probably as many answers to this question as there are CrossFitters (yeah, hundreds of thousands!).

CrossFit was founded by Greg Glassman and is most often defined as fitness through "increased work capacity across broad time and modal domains". This very technical sounding description means that we can measure our fitness and have it reflected in our daily lives. Another, complimentary definition of CrossFit is that it is "constantly varied functional movements performed at relatively high intensity".

CrossFit is a strength and conditioning program that delivers a fitness that is, by design, broad, general, and inclusive. CrossFit's specialty, our specialty, is not specializing. Combat, survival, many sports, and life reward this kind of fitness and, on average, punish the specialist.

The CrossFit program is designed for universal scalability making it the perfect application for any committed individual regardless of experience. CrossFit training can be used and is beneficial for elderly individuals with heart disease to cage fighters. We scale load and intensity; we don’t change programs.

The needs of Olympic athletes and our grandparents differ by degree not kind. Skiers, mountain bike riders and housewives have found their best fitness from the same regimen.

What this means to us, is that the work we do in CrossFit classes can condition our bodies to help us get through our days better. The vast majority of us weren't college athletes, let alone olympians. We just want to be as fit as we can be, for as long as we can be, and have as much fun as we can while achieving it. What we have found, what brought us together to want to create ClockTower CrossFit, is that we have been able to attain these goals together. I work out harder and better by having others do these challenging workouts with me. Some days you push me to get through the workout, other days, I pull you. When the clock stops, we know we've accomplished something together, suffered together and made gains together. The bond we develop through sharing the work makes us a community, and one that we want to grow.

And for the few that have greater ambitions, the same fitness strategies can be scaled up and utilized to meet those goals. High school sports participants, recreational athletes, and aspiring college athletes can use this training to achieve a more diverse level of fitness to apply to their sport(s), whether it's a weekend triathlete or a college soccer player.

(Anna Rode - 2011 Chelsea High School graduate, 2-time 1st Team All-State soccer player and CrossFit competitor, used CrossFit to prepare herself for the rigors of Div. I college soccer)